MESA, Ariz. – As Seiya Suzuki answered questions on primarily serving because the Cubs’ designated hitter, he wore his glove on his left hand, flexing and kneading the leather-based together with his proper.
The subject had surfaced at winter conferences a pair months earlier, when his agent Joel Wolfe referenced Suzuki’s preference for playing in the field. On Friday, cameras and microphones surrounded him at his spring coaching locker to seize his first public feedback since.
“I really feel like final 12 months [manager Craig Counsell and I] might have had higher communication,” Suzuki mentioned by way of interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “So going into this 12 months, I really feel like we’re enhancing upon that — after which talk higher in the course of the season.”
Final 12 months was their first working collectively, after the Cubs fired David Ross and employed Counsell in a single fell swoop in November 2023. Ross was Suzuki’s supervisor for the primary two years of the five-year, $85 million deal he signed when he got here to MLB from Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball.
“It was my first expertise coming right here the place the supervisor modified, so I’m making an attempt to find out how he thinks,” Suzuki mentioned. “And clearly the objective is to win the championship, so what his ideas are, contemplating baseball and different issues. So simply getting a deeper understanding by way of him.”
Suzuki started final season because the Cubs’ main proper fielder. However later within the 12 months, rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong established himself as an on a regular basis participant in heart discipline. So, when Cody Bellinger’s damaged center finger improved sufficient for him to return to the sphere, he went to proper, pushing Suzuki to DH virtually completely for the final month and a half of the season.
Suzuki was the Cubs’ greatest hitter final 12 months, his .848 OPS touchdown him among the many High 20 certified hitters in MLB. And September was his greatest month by way of batting common (.329) and on-base proportion (.457).
Commerce rumors percolated on the winter conferences when it turned clear the Cubs had been pursuing proper fielder Kyle Tucker. And Wolfe mentioned Suzuki could be open to waiving his no-trade clause for a choose few groups.
After acquiring Tucker, the Cubs traded Bellinger to the Yankees. However in a crowded outfield image, that also left Suzuki because the odd man out defensively.
“My job is to offer it my all to no matter my job requires,” Suzuki. “So whether it is to DH, whether it is to play the sphere, I’m giving my greatest, and that’s my job.”
Suzuki and Counsell talked about position expectations in mid-January, in response to the supervisor.
“I instructed him that proper now DH goes to be the place the at-bats come from,” Counsell mentioned at Cubs Conference days later. “He understands. He’s on board. He desires to play the sphere however he understands that proper now that is the place the group type of sits. And I do know that he’s going to play lots of outfield. You hope Kyle and [left fielder Ian Happ] are wholesome, clearly, and if they’re, they’re going to play. However issues will occur.”
On Friday, Counsell took accountability for his or her communication falling brief final season.
“Typically the language barrier makes you lazy, sadly, and that’s that’s on me,” he mentioned. “And I’ve acquired to get just a little higher at that, and can. And that’s one thing that I promise Seiya and can work exhausting to do.”
Concerning discussions on Suzuki DHing, Counsell mentioned: “We’re in a superb place there.”
The Cubs plan to play Suzuki at each nook outfield spots this spring. As for whether or not he can be relegated to DH long run, Suzuki is taking possession of that query.
“I have to get higher defensively, and if it does, I get to play the sphere extra,” he mentioned. “So, it’s in the end all the way down to me.”
